toilliam Blackstone 




iDilUmn Blackstonc 



HIS RELATION TO 



MASSACHUSETTS 



RHODE ISLAND 



Reprinted from The Churchman of September 25th and 
October 2d, 1880. 



A gentleman that is very 
singular in behavip"-, but 
his singularities p jceed 
from his good sense. — 
Spectator. 

By the Rev. B. F. De COSTA. 



New York : 
I. H. MALLORY & CO., 




rn 



I. 

WILLIAM BLACKSTONE: 

The First Churchvian of Boston, arid the 
Founder of the City. 

About the year 1624 the English explorer 
who chanced to land upon the peninsula 
where the city of Boston now stands must 
have encountered a phenomenon. Instead of 
being greeted by the painted savage, he was 
welcomed in familiar tones by a dignified 
and courteous individual in scholastic garb, 
whose language indicated liberal culture, as 
his sentiments testified to his generous hu- 
manity. Though nature reigned in primeval 
wildness, evidences of cultivation were not 
wanting, and upon the shelves of the little 
cottage to which the visitor was invited 
could be seen well-used tomes, recalling the 
studies of the university. Who, therefore, 
was this strange individual whose features 
united the lineaments of the contemplative 
recluse with those of good-fellowship and 
hospitality? This was none other than William 
Blaxton, or Blackstone, some time a student of 



Emanuel, Cambridge, and now clerk in Holy- 
Orders, sequestered in the wilderness of 
America, 

How or when Blackstone reached New 
England is not known. It is certain, however, 
that he took his Master's degree in 1631, and 
that when he appeared in America he was 
still less than thirty years of age. Had he 
come over with Gorges in 1623, as Mr. Adams 
supposes, and identified himself with the hated 
colonists at Weymouth, he might not have 
trusted himself alone in immediate proximity 
to that place, as the savages would be thirsting 
for his blood. Besides, the Weymouth people 
had a clergyman with them, and would hardly 
desire another. The first mention of Black- 
stone is that of June 9th, 1638, when he was 
assessed twelve shillings towards the expence of 
arresting Morton of Merry Mount, though there 
is nothing to prove that he paid the tax or 
sympathized with the proceeding. Again, 
April 39th, 1629,he was empowered by Gorges to 
put Oldham in possession of lands near Boston, 
which has been accepted as proving that he 
was connected with the Weymouth colony; 
but it might be argued with equal force that he 
was connected with the colony at Dover, 
because a reference, hitherto unnoticed, 
mentions that, in 1631, he was empowered to 
perform a similar act for Hilton. 

Whenever Blackstone may have come over, 
it is certain that his tastes were singular, 



though he is by no means to be condemned 
for his singularity. A class of men may ever 
be ready to exclaim, 

"Oh, solitude, where are thy charms 
That sages have seen in thy face ? " 

and be unable to see with 

" that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude." 

Yet Blackstone, as well as John Baptist, 
found life in the wilderness somewhat to his 
account. 

There is no evidence that Blackstone had 
any white neighbors prior to 1629, but in that 
year Thomas Walford, a Churchman like him- 
self, was living in a palisadoed house at 
Mishawumet, now Charlestown. Somewhat 
later another well-known Churchman, Sam- 
uel Maverick, lived at • Noddle's Island, 
now East Boston. It is thus a curious fact 
that the three peninsulas mentioned, and which 
closely faced one another, commanding the 
water approaches, were taken possession of 
by Churchmen, and this, too, at a time when 
the nearest English habitations were those at 
Plymouth, Gorges, the proprietor, was him- 
self a Churchman. Can it be claimed that 
this was done without any particular design? 

In 1630, however, Blackstone's quiet was 
invaded, for at that time Governor Winthrop 
and his people had reached Mishawumet. But 
when the recluse saw how the new-comers suf- 



f ered from the poor water, he invited them to 
Shawmut, or Shawamet, a name, like that of 
Charlestown, signifying a landing-place. The 
manuscript records of Charlestown recite that 
" Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on the other side 
Charles River, alone, to a place by the Indeans 
called Shawmutt, where he only had a cottage 
at, not far off the place called Blackstone 
Point, he came and acquainted the Governor 
of an excellent spring there, withal inviting 
and soliciting him thither. Whereupon . . . 
the greatest part of the Church removed 
thither, whither also the frame of the Gov- 
ernor's house was carried, when the people 
began to build their houses against the winter. 
And this place," the recorder adds, "was 
called Boston," which, it may be remembered, 
was from Boston, or " Botolph," England. 
The colonists, who hated saint worship, thus 
put themselves under the guardianship of St. 
Botolph, whose bones were carried in pro- 
cession at Buiy when the people wanted rain. 
Blackstone's cottage was on the river side of 
Boston, near the present terminus of the 
bridge connecting the ancient tri-mountain 
peninsula with Cambridge, and looking pro- 
phetically toward the spot where no mean re- 
production of his own alma mater was soon 
to rise. Upon what ground he took possession 
of the peninsula does not appear. A 
speech is sometimes put into his mouth, de- 
claring in high terms that while the Cabots 



acquired the whole continent by sailing along 
the coast, he had won his title by actual occu- 
pancy. Since, however, this coasting voyage 
of the Cabots is about as apocryphal as the 
' ' Humors of Eutopia, " in which the speech first 
appeared, we may dismiss both. The versatile 
Dr. Peters tells us that William Peters "had a 
deed of the whole peninsula whereon Boston 
stands, which he purchased of Mr. Blaxton, 
who bought it of the Plymouth Company" 
(p. 51). Governor Winthrop immediately set 
about the work of organization, and, Sep- 
tember 7th, 1630, the Court of Assistants for- 
mally ordered that ' ' Tri-mountain be called 
Boston." October 19th, William Blackstone 
was admitted a Freeman (Gen. Reg., III. 41), 
but the next May it was voted that only those 
should be Freemen who joined " the Church.'' 
Even Hutchinson (I. 256) confesses that this 
was a ' ' most extraordinary law, " and one 
which, if enacted by Parliament, might well 
have been " the first in the roll of grievances." 
Thus the people who, from the cabin of the 
"Arbella,'' sent such loving greetings to their 
' ' dear brethren " of the Church of England, 
soon discovered that even " dear brethren " 
had no rights of citizenship that they were 
bound to respect. The details of what fol- 
lowed are wanting, but in the end Blackstone 
found it convenient to leave. Johnson, how- 
ever, in " Wonder-working Providence, " gives 
a curious paragraph that throws light upon 



the subject. Speaking of the distress that 
prevailed in 1629, he says: "All this while 
little likelihood there was of building the 
temple for God's worship, there being only 
two that began to hew stones in the moun- 
tains, the one named Mr. Bright and the other 
Mr. Blaxton, and one of them began to build ; 
but when they saw all sorts of stones would 
not fit in the building, as they supposed, the 
one betook him to the Seas againe and the 
other to till the land, retaining no symbol of 
his former profession but a Canonicall Coate'' 
(c. 9). Bright, it appears, was a clergyman 
of the Church of England, who had come out 
with the people, but was disliked, as Hubbard 
shows. Morton, in his Memorial (p. 93, ed. 
1826), says distinctly that Bright " was a con- 
formist." Evidently he had credited the peo- 
ple of the "Arbella " with sincerity when they 
declared that they were misjudged by those 
who said that they meditated separation. 
Bright came, like the Browns, expecting to 
enjoy a free Church in a free State. The 
Browns at Salem reproached Skelton and 
Higginson for their coiu-se, and were put on 
board a ship and sent home to England. 
Bright, however, was more careful, and came 
to Charlestown with a part of the company, 
evidently hoping to hold them somewhat to 
the Church. Mather says that Blackstone 
and Bright "began to hew,'' while Bright 
himself "began to build." His efforts, nev- 



ertheless, proved in vain. He could not keep 
them to their promises, -while Blaclistone 
would not join "the Church." Later the 
people were confirmed in their judgment 
against conformity by a fact recorded by the 
governor, whose son, a magistrate, had a 
Greek Testament, the Psalms, and Common 
Prayer bound together and deposited in a corn- 
loft. The " thing worthy of observation 
was" that he "found the Common Prayer 
eaten with mice, every leaf of it, and not any 
of the two others touched, nor any other of his 
books, though there were above a thousand. " 
Thus the fate of episcopacy in Boston was 
settled by misunderstood mice; for evidently, 
after all, these were wise rodents, who, not 
knowing the Greek, let it alone, intending, no 
doubt, to teach the separatists the importance 
of abstaining from meddling with matters 
which they did not understand. 

Hubbard, speaking of Bright, says: "He, 
not unlike Jonah, fled from the presence 
of the Lord." Some have supposed that 
Johnson meant to say that Bright became a 
sailor, but this does not quite follow from his 
language. Finding a ship going to England, 
he "paid the fare thereof," and went home. 
Fleeing from the atmosphere of Separatism 
was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, and, 
upon the whole, a pretty neat deification of 
schism. Nevertheless, Mr. Bright's case shows 
what Churchmen should not forget — that the 



10 

settlement over which he was to have been 
placed as minister was originally intended for 
something better than separation, otherwise 
they would not have brought over a conform- 
ing clergyman. 

The authority already quoted was of the 
opinion that Mr. Blackstone had a better 
faculty for tilling the ground "than in the 
things pertaining to the house of God. " There 
is also a repetition of Johnson's slur at the 
"Canonicall Coate," it being added, "For 
any one to retain only the outward badge of 
his function, that could never pretend to any 
faculty therein or exercise thereof, is, though 
no honor to himself, yet a dishonor and dis- 
paragement to I the order he would thereby 
challenge acquaintance with." This leads to 
the question. Why was Blackstone alone in 
the wilderness without the exercise of his pro- 
fession? There was certainly no fault in his 
moral character that the unfriendly Hubbard 
could seize upon. Mather, in his " Magnalia," 
shows why he stood alone, for, after endorsing 
his character by placing him among those 
" godly Episcopalians " who adorned the 
Christian profession in New England, he says : 
'• This man, indeed, was of a particular humor, 
and he would never join any of our Churches, 
giving this reason, ' I came from England be- 
cause I did not like the lord-bishops, but I can't 
join with you, because I would be under the 
lord-brethren'" (III. c. 11). Blackstone was 



11 

in advance of his age. Withiin and 
without the Church he saw intolerance, 
and, feeling his inability to contend, he sought 
a home in the New World, whither he did not 
expect intolerance to follow. He was willing 
to be sequestered, if thereby he could main- 
tain his consistency and independence. He 
also possessed a taste for the contemplative 
life, being in sympathy with those men and 
women lauded by Chrysostom, because out of 
their seclusion they lavished upon the world 
gifts more than regal. Nevertheless, he re- 
mained a Churchman. His Churchmanship 
was a matter of common report in Mather's 
day. With no reason whatsoever can the non- 
conformist deny his churchly character. He 
stood, as regards the high-handed tyranny of 
the lord-bishops, where every reasonable 
Churchman stands to-day. To avoid it he 
crossed the ocean and sought refuge among 
the cloisters of the New England forests, ex- 
pecting to be as free from intrusion as within 
the groves of Emanuel. But, as it often hap- 
pened with the ancient anchorite, the place of 
his seclusion became the seat of a great city. 
Like the Arab, he was crowded out by the 
guest he brought in. 

Mather, though entertaining a fair estimate 
of the man, did not believe in his title to 
eminent domain, and observes that, ' ' happen- 
ing to sleep first in a hovel upon a point 
of land there [Boston], laid claim to all the 



12 

ground whereupon there now stands the 
metropolis of the whole English America." 
Nevertheless, Blackstone's claim was main- 
tained until the inhabitants had been taxed 
six shillings apiece to buy his rights, though he 
still reserved six acres of ground for his 
own use. It has been doubted, however, 
whether Blackstone claimed the whole penin- 
sula. 

Blackstone remained at Boston about ten 
years. In 1641, when Lechford, a Church- 
man and the author of "Plain Dealing," 
was at Boston, he felt the inconvenience of 
his principles; and while there he wrote: 
" One Master Blakeston, a Minister, went 
from Boston, having lived there nine or ten 
years, because he would not join the Church," 
adding, ' ' he lives neere Master [Roger] 
Williams, but is far from his opinions," as 
he well might be, since Williams held that it 
was " not lawful to heare any of the Ministers 
of the Parish Assemblies in England," other- 
wise, that it was sin. It was no doubt true 
that Blackstone left because he would not 
"join the Church." Without actually driv- 
ing him out, they made it uncomfortable for 
him to stay. 

Blackstone, like many another good man, 
appears to have been fond of cultivating fruits 
and flowers, and a writer in the Providence 
Gazette, supposed to be Stephen Hopkins, the 
Signer, says that he was in Boston ' ' so long 



13 

as to have raised apple-trees and planted an 
orchard"; but "John Josselyn, Gent.," in 
his " Account of Two Voyages " (Printed for 
Oiles Widdmcs, at the Oreen Dragon, in St. 
PauVs Church-yard, 1674), says that he had 
brought to him from Governor's Island, Bos- 
ton Harbor, in 1638, "half a score of very 
fair Pippins," there being "not one Apple- 
tree nor Pear planted yet in no part of the 
Countrey but upon that island " (p. 29). This 
Josselyn, hovpever, did not know a wasp's-nest, 
and went " to pluck it " for a " pine Apple," 
being so badly stung that they "hardly knew 
me but by my garments. " Yet this same Josse- 
lyn professed to know " pippins." Let those 
Bostonians who are now vindicating to the 
Church principles of Blackstone see to it that 
they dispose of Josselyn's implied aspersion 
respecting the good man's apples. 

The founder of Boston, whose two hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary has just been celebrat- 
ed, acted fully upon the Kantian dogma, 
that education consists in the development of 
one's idiosyncracies; and Blackstone was 
clearly the father of his people. Yet his de- 
parture from the renowned bailiwick which 
owes him so much was equally satisfactoiy to 
the people and himself. Blackstone found 
the peninsula a wilderness, but left it a rising 
city. From the tax levied he received £30; 
but our excellent friend, though a man of 
peace, did not go before he had a case in court, 



14 

which, at Newton, April 7th, 1635, decreed that 
' ' Nahanton, " his bronzed adversary, should 
"give two skins of beaver to Mr. Blackestone 
for damages done his swine by setting traps, " 
etc. (Mass. Rec, I. 43). 

Of his funds, tradition says that he invested 
£13 in cattle. Then, all his preparations 
being made, while the forests were still fra- 
grant with the perfume of the trailing arbutus, 
our " godly Episcopalian,'' vested in that de- 
spised ' ' canonicall coate, " gathered up his 
loved books, and, in the company of his gentle- 
eyed, four-footed friends, southward took his 
solitary way. 

What happened to him further will be told 
in another paper. 



II. 

WILLIAM BLACKSTONE: 

The First Churchman in Rhode Island^ and 
the Original Settler of the State. 

We left our ancient worthy, the founder of 
Boston, travelling southward in the company 
of his foiu"-footed companions, whom, after 
a varied experience, he doubtless regarded as 
his best friends. He now feels the old long- 
ing which originally helped to carry him over 
the sea: 

" O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
Where rumor of oppression and deceit, 
Of unsuccessful or successful war. 
Might never reach me more." 

At this time he found no difficulty in dis- 
covering what met his wants, as New England 
lay before him a vast, unexplored forest. Fol- 
lowing the beaten Indian paths forming a net- 
work in the woods, Blackstone reached the terri- 
tory of the State of Rhode Island, then visited 
occasionally by Dutch and English traders, 
but without a permanent white inhabitant. 



16 

Selecting lands in the present town of Cumber- 
land, known as the " Attleborough Gore," he 
built a cottage. His house stood near the 
site of the bridge that now unites the village 
of Lonsdale. The Indian name of the place 
was Wawepoonseag, said to signify "the 
place where birds are snared," being also 
mentioned in 1661 as the place where "one 
Blackstone now sojourneth." His cottage 
stood at the foot of a hill which had three 
natural terraces, upon the second of which he 
dug his well; while the summit of the hill 
formed a place of retire7nent and study. His 
retreat was known as " Study Hill." In 1836 
three apple-trees bearing fruit were standing 
on the south end of Blackstone's meadow, 
being then considered as having sprung from 
sprouts of those which he planted. 

Of the progress of events at Study Hill it is 
impossible to speak. Blackstone, however, 
appears to have had his man Friday, whose 
surname was Abbott, who attended to his in- 
terests, and is duly immortalized by the name 
affixed to a locality now called " Abbott's 
Run.'' Yet in 1659 a radical change was 
made in the arrangements at Study Hill, for 
at that time our excellent recluse, though about 
threescore years old, saw that, after all, the 
daughters of Boston were fair, and took unto 
himself a helpmate in the person of Mistress 
Sarah Stevenson of that city, whom he there 
married July 4th. No less a magnate than 



17 

Endicott, Governor of Massachusetts, per- 
formed the ceremony, which took place five 
years before the time assigned by Drake as that 
when first ' ' the Church service was performed 
in Boston without molestation, " and seventeen 
years before the first Episcopal organization 
was attempted. Blackstone probably chose 
the services of the distinguished head of the 
Commonwealth in preference to those of " the 
Church "he would not "join." A recently 
discovered broadside shows that at this pe- 
riod he was accustomed to make occasional 
visits to Boston, riding on a bull, and the ob- 
ject of his pilgrimages may therefore be sur- 
mised. It cannot, however, be afiirmed pos- 
itively that the bride in going to Rhode Is- 
land travelled in the style of the lovely Eu- 
ropa. 

It is evident that after his marriage Black- 
stone maintained his studious habits, and that, 
upon the top of his hill, he found opportunities 
for quiet contemplation which the little voice 
soon heard in his cottage did not always afford. 
It is likewise evident that he did not aim seri- 
ously at the accumulation of this world's goods. 
Forty years of labor at Study Hill in- 
creased his personal estate only by that number 
of pounds. His wife's son, John Stevenson, 
is described as kind and dutiful; while his own 
tastes were simple, and rendered him so inde- 
pendent that his mental tranquillity was not 
disturbed by the lean larder. 



18 

According to the records of Rehoboth, Mrs. 
Blackstone died in the middle of 1673 ; while 
the venerable man himself passed from earth 
May 26th, 1675, being more than fourscore 
years old. Baylies wrote : "In his death this 
pilgrim of Boston was singularly happy, as 
it happened a few days before the commence- 
ment of that direful war . . . which gave 
his house and his books to the flames, and 
rendered his fair and cultivated domain a scene 
of destruction. His house appears to have 
been destroyed with the seven houses mention- 
ed by Hubbard in his ' Indian "Wars. ' Black- 
stone himself never had any trouble with the 
savages." Plymouth records contain an in- 
ventory of his effects, which gives the con- 
tents of his library : 

£s. a. 

3 Bibles, 10s.— 6 EngUsh books in folio, £2 2 10 

3 Latin books in folio, 15s.— 3 Latin books in 

large quarto, £2 2 15 

15 SmaU quarto, £1 ITs. 6d.— 14 small quar- 
to, 14s 2 11 6 

30 Large octavo, £4 — 25 small octavo, £1 5s 5 5 

22 Duodecimo 1 13 

53 Small duodecimo, of little value 13 

10 Paper books 5 

15 12 6 

His personal estate was only £40, which 
shows a handsome proportion for his books. 
Those "paper books" probably contained im- 
portant passages in New England History. 
His family eventually disappeared from Rhode 
Island, and it was taken for granted that it 



19 

became extinct. His ''daughter" was never 
anything more than a myth, while it is not 
yet certain that any grandson was ' ' killed at 
Louisburg." His son John, however, became 
dissipated, and, in 1713, was legally warned 
out of the town of Attleborough ; having pre- 
viously, in 1693, deeded his patrimony to 
David Whipple, signing the deed as "John 
Blaxton." Tradition runs that Blackstone 
detected the tendencies of his son, and ob- 
served sadly that Solomon was mistaken when 
he said that a man could not know whether 
his inheritance would descend to a wise man 
or a fool. Yet recent investigations have 
proved that the son was wiser than the father 
supposed, and that after sowing his wild oats 
he reformed and became a respectable member 
of society. The name of Blackstone is still 
preserved by his lineal descendants in Con- 
necticut, who, from the settlement of John at 
Branford, have grown in public estimation 
and have done honor to the name, showing 
that good blood will tell. 

We must, of course, inquire here in relation 
to his ecclesiastical status at this period. For- 
tunately we are not left altogether in the dark, 
for Stephen Hopkins, whose grandfather was 
one of the original settlers of Providence, re- 
corded in The Gazette printed there in 1765 
that ' ' Mr. Blackstone used frequently to 
come to Providence to preach the Gospel." 
It would also appear that this took place 



20 

" when he was old." Blackstone could 
not have officiated for Roger Williams' 
flock, as in their eyes episcopacy was a 
sore evil. Lechford, it will be remembered, 
says that Blackstone, though " neere Master 
Williams," was " far from his opinions." In 
1649 Cromwell's " Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel in New England " was 
flooding the country with nonconformists, 
while in 1680 the Bishop of London reported 
only four clergy of the Establishment in Amer- 
ica. The Church Propagation Society was 
not established until 1701. In 1640 Gibson 
was engaged in establishing St. John's, Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire. Blackstone was es- 
sentially alone, and probably without any 
connection with Churchmen at a distance. 

The historian of Providence could find no 
trace of ' ' Episcopalianism " there prior to 1732, 
and though Lockyer was missionary in Newport 
in 1698, and Houyman evidently held services 
at Providence in 1704, McSparran, writing in 
1753, claims that he was ' ' the first Episco- 
pal minister that ever preached at Prov- 
idence." At the time he wrote he could not 
have read the testimony of Hopkins as it was 
printed in 1 765, but the author of ' ' The An- 
nals of Providence " might have taken the nar- 
rative of The Gazette into the account when 
writing the history of "St. John's church," 
or at least have allowed the name of Blackstone 
to appear. The same fault is to be found with 



21 

the bulky volume of Rhode Island ecclesiasti- 
cal history, prepared in accordance with a 
vote of convention, 1840, Dr. Francis Vinton 
being chairman ; but though one searches the 
five hundred and thirty-three pages in vain to 
discover some reference to William Blackstone, 
there is nevertheless a very neat notice of the 
Narragansett pacing horse. 

Blackstone was unfitted to battle with the 
world, and occupied an isolated position; yet 
it is probable that from near the time of Roger 
Williams' advent at Providence there were al- 
ways Churchmen there, where worship was 
free, and that the frequent preaching tours 
made to Providence had the interest of the 
English Church for their object. There is no 
evidence whatsoever that Blackstone was a 
nonconformist or a friend of Roger Williams, 
while he was always recognized as an " Episco- 
palian " ; the neglect of the man on the part of 
Churchmen being simply the result of un- 
acquaintance. It is also probable that he per- 
formed the services of the Church at " Study 
Hill," in the vicinity of which, at the time of 
his death, there were one hundred and sixty 
inhabitants. Hopkins describes him as an 
" exemplary Christian." 

Heath says that in Rhode Island, as in Mas- 
sachusetts, he was the first to plant an orchard 
and raise apples; and since, in Blackstone's 
visits to Providence, " to encourage his young 
hearers, he gave them the first apples they ever 



saw," and since, nioreover, the said apples 
were " yellow sweetings," the "richest and 
most delicious of the whole kind," it is quite 
certain that the venerable missionary was pop- 
ular with the young. Possibly, too, they were 
edified by his style of travelling, for Hopkins 
says that ' ' when he was old and unable to 
travel on foot, he used to ride on a bull trained 
and tutored to that use." Coming thus, with 
his saddle-bags full of "sweetings,'' and pre- 
pared by large knowledge and experience to 
add apples of gold in pictures of silver, he 
must have been welcome indeed. The sight 
might not have pleased the imperious Laud, yet 
tliere was something classic in the spectacle, 
while it would have appealed to the instincts of 
the historian of the "Narragansett pacer, "and, 
no doubt, secured an appreciative paragraph. 
We may imagine the children attending the 
patriarch, as they flocked around Goldsmith's 
parson — plucking his gown, or at least that 
" canonicall coate, " to catch the good man's 
smile. Indeed, it is Blackstone's unmistakable 
love of children, as well as his devotion to 
fruits, flowers, and the trees of the Lord, 
which give our best impressions of this gentle 
and benignant disciple, who, cast in the mould 
of St. John, was ready to receive the kingdom 
of heaven as a little child. 

The ashes of Blackstone repose to-day, with 
those of his wife, at the foot of the slope of 
" Study Hill," where, in 1836, two rude stones 



marked the grave. They marked the grave of 
a Churchman to whose memory no monument 
has yet been built, as well as the grave of the 
founder of Boston, and one might say the 
founder of Rhode Island, since about one year 
in advance of Roger Williams, and Coddington 
the founder of Providence, Blackstone laid 
the corner-stone of Christian civilization on 
the Attleborough Gore. 

Blackstone was no ordinary man. The 
glimpses that we have of his character prove 
that he possessed qualifications which, under 
other circumstances, might have made him 
one of the foremost men of New England. 
His motto was "Toleration"; the thought 
being held in a lofty sense that never dawned 
upon the vision of Roger "Williams. He ap- 
pears every way superior to the times, and 
stands like some tall rock in the sea whose 
summit is bathed in untroubled light, while 
tumultuous waves beat below. At a later pe- 
riod he would have been the friend and co- 
laborer of Berkeley, and together they might 
have pursued the paths of contemplative phil- 
osophy, and labored to lay foundations for 
education and the Church. 

At Study Hill may still be seen a venerable 
tree that a well-known though eccentric cler- 
gyman named " the Catholic Oak,'' dedicating 
it to "Universal Toleration,'' several times 
holding divine service under its branches, em- 
ploying the venerable forms loved by Black- 



zo 



^r,L 24 



stone so well. No appropriate monument, 
however, has yet been set up. Rhode Island, 
nevertheless, will yet honor the founder of the 
first Christian home within her border, while 
Boston will also pay with interest the great 
debt which, according to her historian, she 
owes to that " memorable man." 



